Sprint Cup - Bayne Qualifies P7 At Texas

Fort Worth, Nov. 3, 2012: Trevor Bayne nailed down a top-10 starting
spot for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, and as usual
for his team, the strong qualifying effort brought optimism for the race
and relief for simply being in it.

Since the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion team runs just a
partial Sprint Cup schedule, it isn’t guaranteed a starting spot. One
mistake on Bayne’s part or a mechanical malfunction or mistake by the
crew and the team does not race that week.

“That is always something that crosses my mind right before we go
out,” Bayne said. “We aren’t even guaranteed to be racing
when we go out.”

Still, he and the Wood Brothers team were able to put their worries
aside and pick up significant speed from practice to qualifying.

In Friday’s practice round, Bayne’s best lap of 187.052
miles per hour was 15th fastest on the speed chart. Then he went out and
ran more than two and a half miles per hour faster in qualifying to take
the seventh starting spot with a lap at 189.607 mph. He was second fastest
of the Ford contingent and fastest among the go-or-go-home drivers who had
to rely on their qualifying speeds to make the race.

Bayne gave his Donnie Wingo-led crew credit for going in the right
direction with the chassis adjustments for qualifying. Practice on Saturday
will give them a chance to fine-tune the car even more.

“We over-adjusted from practice but it went faster, so they went
the right way with it which is a really good problem to have,” he
said. “At least we know what we needed now.”